For many U.S. schools, creating environments that promote healthy eating and offer healthy choices is a struggle. This year, however, new opportunities to improve child nutrition are arriving by the plateful, culminating in what could be a historic investment in children’s health.
In February, President Barack Obama proposed that an additional $10 billion over 10 years be invested in child nutrition programs via the federal Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, which is expected to come before Congress for reauthorization later this year. The bill supports all federal school meal and child nutrition efforts, such as the national school lunch and breakfast programs and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, more commonly known as WIC. Obama’s proposal, many advocates say, is one piece of a perfect storm brewing in children’s favor: In addition to the billion-dollar proposal, Obama recently established a Task Force on Childhood Obesity, first lady Michelle Obama launched her own child health campaign known as “Let’s Move!,” and the nation’s childhood obesity rate shows no signs of waning.
Students in Sharon, Vt., enjoy school lunch in February at Sharon Elementary School, which is part of the Farm to School program.
Photo by Toby Talbot, courtesy AP Images
“The reauthorization effort should ensure that all foods served in schools are healthy and nutritious,” said U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a Feb. 23 speech in Washington, D.C. “Food served in vending machines and the a la carte line shouldn’t undermine our efforts to enhance the health of the school environment. That is why we must have the capacity to set standards for all the foods served and sold in schools.”
Apple photo by Dean Turner, courtesy iStockphoto
During the speech, Vilsack outlined the administration’s priorities for child nutrition, such as establishing school meal standards based on the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, setting standards for all foods sold in schools, promoting whole grains, fruits, vegetables, low-fat and fat-free dairy products, and increasing federal reimbursement rates for schools that bolster nutrition and quality. According to USDA, more than 30 million children take part in the school lunch program and more than 10 million participate in school breakfast programs.
“This reauthorization is probably one of the most important that we’ve faced because of both high rates of childhood obesity and given the state of the economy, so many families are more dependent than ever on these programs to feed themselves and their families,” said APHA member Margo Wootan, DSc, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “We need Congress to move quickly so that the reforms that are passed can be in place by next school year.”
Wootan praised Obama’s funding request as “historic,” noting that while it is probably not enough to meet current needs, it will still be “politically difficult to get that amount of money.”
“We have to work within the political realities of the day,” Wootan told The Nation’s Health. “Given the economy, concern about the deficit and a lot of other competing priorities, I think the president’s request is completely reasonable. Now it’s up to Congress to come up with the money. I think the time is right to finish what many of us have been working on for about a decade.”
Rochelle Davis, the executive director of the Healthy Schools Campaign, a Chicago-based nonprofit advocating healthy school environments, agreed that the $10 billion request will not “necessarily solve the problem, but if it happens, it will be the single largest increase (for child nutrition) and getting that will be an achievement.” Most school districts, she said, spend about 35 cents over the federal school meal reimbursement rate and upward of 70 cents more in large, urban school districts. Offering healthy school meal choices can be an expensive and difficult task, she said, that includes not only better-quality foods, but training food service staff and upgrading school facilities.
“If I’ve learned anything from my public health friends, it’s about the inter connectedness of health,” Davis told The Nation’s Health. “Schools play an important role, not just because of nutrition, but because of the opportunity to teach kids about healthy eating and physical activity.”
From salad bars to farm-fresh food
Reauthorization is also a chance for programs that have flourished thanks to grassroots support and commitment from school leaders but receive little to no federal support. One such example is the effort to bring salad bars into schools.
A handful of years ago, officials with New York City’s SchoolFood, a department of the New York City Department of Education and the largest school food service provider in the nation, turned their attention to salad bars, instructing staff on how to present them in a way that maximized their appeal to students and eventually expanding their reach throughout the school district. Today, according to SchoolFood Executive Chef Jorge Collazo, there are salad bars in all of the city’s high and junior high schools, and with last year’s federal stimulus funds, the department was able to purchase about 100 “low-boy,” or short, salad bars for city elementary schools. The salad bars are available to all students, who can take as many fruits and vegetables as they like.
Health advocates are working to improve U.S. school lunch nutrition.
Photo courtesy Kelly Cline, iStockphoto
“There’s nothing more fabulous than going to an elementary school and seeing little kids putting carrots on their plates,” Collazo told The Nation’s Health.
While consumption of salad bar offerings has increased, it presents a financial burden not supported by the federal government, Collazo said, noting that “we absorb the cost because it’s something we believe in.” Hopefully, though, more help could be forthcoming.
Nutrition advocates such as Lorelei DiSogra, EdD, RD, are busy organizing support for an improved child nutrition bill, especially in the salad bar arena. Vice president of nutrition and health at United Fresh Produce Association, DiSogra notes that “salad bars are an evidence-based strategy that leads to increased access to and consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.” DiSogra and colleagues are calling on lawmakers to include key elements of the Children’s Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009 — introduced in the House of Representatives in December as H.R. 4333 — into the child nutrition reauthorization bill. Such elements include a national school salad bar policy and more funding for related cafeteria equipment.
“The opportunities are huge,” DiSogra said about the child nutrition bill. “I’ve been in public health and nutrition for 40 years, and there has never been an opportunity like there is right now.”
As well as advocacy, the United Fresh Produce Association officially launched its three-year “Salad Bar in Every School” campaign in February, with an initial goal of donating 100 salad bars to schools in the coming months. The first salad bar donation was made to the Elsie Whitlow Stokes Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., in September. But before it was donated, advocates brought the salad bar to Capitol Hill so policy-makers could see it for themselves, said DiSogra, an APHA member.
Students at an elementary school in Takoma Park, Md., enjoy a meal through a summer lunch program in June 2009. The free program was expanded last year to reach more low-income kids.
Photo by Linda Davidson, courtesy the Washington Post/Getty Images
“Many schools are trying to make a difference,” she said. “They get it.”
Such child nutrition efforts not only impact students and their families, but entire communities, as is the case with the grassroots farm-to-school movement. While the 2004 child nutrition bill included $10 million in discretionary funds for farm-to-school projects, Congress never appropriated the money. Nevertheless, efforts to bring locally grown foods into the school cafeteria have flourished thanks to local commitment and school officials.
According to Debra Eschmeyer, outreach and media director for the National Farm to School Network, there are now more than 2,000 farm-to-school programs in 43 states, and 24 states have official farm-to-school policies in place. During the upcoming reauthorization, Eschmeyer and colleagues are calling for $50 million to support start-up costs for up to 500 farm-to-school projects.
“Every successful farm-to-school program has a dedicated food service director that is truly vested in creating healthy meals for kids,” Eschmeyer said.
One such person is Doug Davis, director of food service for the Burlington, Vt., School District. Since 2003, Burlington students have been sitting down to fresh, locally grown foods. During the program’s first year, the school district purchased about 300 pounds of local products. This school year, the district will have bought more than 50,000 pounds of local food products and put more than $50,000 back into the community, Davis said. To make it work, Davis and colleagues work closely with local farmers, discussing which foods were a hit with students, which were not and what will be grown next year. The food service staff has also transformed its purchasing habits, shifting costs and dollars to bring in as much local food as possible and using innovative ideas to bridge budget gaps, Davis told The Nation’s Health.
For example, food service staff wanted to offer locally made organic bread, but it was not in the budget. To make it work, school staff and a local bakery agreed to form what is commonly known as a “community-supported agriculture” model: about 100 staff members each pay $4 per week for a 10-week “share” and get a fresh loaf of bread weekly. Because the bakery charges less than $4 for a weekly loaf, the resulting profit is used to bridge the original price gap, and now two Burlington schools can offer local, artisan bread every day of the week, Davis reported.
“Day to day, I have to fill their bellies,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I want students to be able to make choices that benefit themselves, their families and their communities.”
For more information on school nutrition and the child nutrition bill reauthorization, visit www.cspinet.org/nutritionpolicy/nana.html or www.healthyschoolscampaign.org.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
